Irish Rail would be very much in favour of developing a park and ride service from Athenry into the heart of Galway city – once the Gort to Tuam motorway is completed.

Not sure pressure on DoT or TII will be enough to secure funding.

Quote:

In response, Don Cunningham, Infrastructure Manager with Irish Rail said that there was no funding available in the short to medium term to double-track the line between Athenry and Galway but were actively working to retain this option of doing so in the long term.

He said that capacity on the single line into Galway is fully utilised during the morning and afternoon peak times. “Significant improvements could be achieved with the doubling of the track from Athenry,” he said.

“Usage of this section could grow significantly when the Gort to Tuam motorway is completed thus adding the benefits of a park and ride location at Athenry with a frequent rail service into the heart of Galway city,” he added.

The infrastructure that is already in place now along the corridor could never be put in place today because of costs etc yet there is no political motivation to get the line running. The naysayers condemned the Limerick Galway opening yet it has attracted passengers and offers an alternative to the car. In addition all these routes have a huge freight option to ports in the south like Limerick , Cork and Rosslare. Ireland is not meeting the UN sustainable Development 20130 goals that we signed up to mainly because of our use of fossil fuels. We are unique in the amount of oil we import as a country yet we still encourage car use and send freight on roads. The rest of europe use the rail at night for freight which reduces the cost of rail and increases traffick. Western rail corridor is infrastructure that is invaluable and unique but the political vision is missing and the car/road lobby too powerful.